BIBLE NEWS: North Korea frees Bible-carrying man

It is easy to think of persecution being something that requires an overt act like preaching on the street corner, but in many parts of the world Christianity is offensive in even it's smallest, most personal forms.  One man was arrested in North Korea for simply leaving his own Bible in his hotel room.  Thankfully, the diplomats have gotten him freed.

Jeffrey Fowle, one of three Americans being held captive in North Korea, is on his way home. Fowle was detained in May after leaving a bilingual bible in his hotel room (or in a nightclub, or in a restaurant bathroom, depending on the source, because this is North Korea). The 59-year-old was charged with "anti-state crimes."

BIBLE NEWS: Airdropping Bibles into North Korea

For most of the world, this is a great time to read the Bible.  It is available free on the internet at sites like BibleGateway.Com and it is available free through countless Missions organizations.  But there are still places on Earth where getting your hands on a Bible is a life and death situation.  Christians are seeking to sneak more Bibles into North Korea, one of the most tightly controlled Communist dictatorships left on the planet.

The balloons, made from a large sheet of "farm plastic," said Foley, are filled with hydrogen before the Bibles and "tracts" - testimonials written by other North Korean Christians - are attached at the bottom inside a sack or box. Timers are then used to release the materials in stages, dispersing them at high altitudes across North Korea.
Foley and members of his Christian mission group, Seoul USA, use GPS technology to help direct where the Bibles land. Around 50,000 of them have dropped from the skies in the last year.